Review of 'Down and Out in Paris and London' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
George Orwell's first published book: his youth shows, for sure. It's some kind of revelation to him that tramps are people just like everybody else. He at first seems a relatively empathetic and progressive person, but he obviously views women as some other species - definitely not people. It made me so angry, his rhetoric. The astoundingly misogynistic idea that men deserve sex/love/attention from women makes an appearance, (like in that recent mass-murderer's screed). I thought the appalling rape story in the Paris half was to illustrate something in the character who supposedly told it. But it's just more dehumanizing garbage from Orwell himself.
So I do not appreciate this book. But I also know that these disgusting views of women were common in society and literature in the 20th century, even from women authors (looking at you, Agatha Christie).
